+dnl The original code implemented AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE and AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE
+dnl in terms of AC_DEFUN and AC_REQUIRE. This implementation uses diversions to
+dnl named sections DEFAULTS and INIT_PREPARE in order to check all requested
+dnl headers at once, thus reducing the size of 'configure'. It is known to work
+dnl with autoconf 2.57..2.62 at least . The size reduction is ca. 9%.
+
+dnl Autoconf version 2.59 plus gnulib is required; this file is not needed
+dnl with Autoconf 2.60 or greater. But note that autoconf's implementation of
+dnl AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE expects a comma-separated list of symbols as first
+dnl argument!
+AC_PREREQ([2.59])